Memorial Donations Fall Short * At Least $55,000 Expected, But Just $38,884 Donated, Through The Positive Checkoff On 1997 Tax Forms.

June 25, 1998|by MARIO F. CATTABIANI, The Morning Call

In its first year to cash in on a state income tax form checkoff, the Korean/Vietnam memorial planned for the Lehigh Valley failed to reach some officials' expectations.

Taxpayers donated $38,884 for the Korean/Vietnam Memorial National Education Center through a checkoff option on the 1997 Pennsylvania income tax return. The checkoffs enabled those getting money back to donate a portion to five causes.

Some had projected the option would raise more than $250,000 -- surely at least $50,000 -- for the KVM project.

But only one in 260 people who got money back gave any to the memorial, according to preliminary figures released by the state Department of Revenue.

Nonetheless, the group's top official said he was "very pleased" with the outcome.

George Duell, KVM's chief executive, said the group never placed monetary expectation on the checkoff, and that whatever money is received is money it wouldn't otherwise have raised.

"We had no expectations," he said. "We never looked at it as a major fund-raiser."

Yet, Rep. Don Snyder, R-Lehigh, the effort's leading advocate in Harrisburg who wrote the bill creating the checkoff, called the results "extremely disappointing."

And Snyder was critical of what he described as the KVM's lackluster effort to promote the option, saying the group squandered the first year of a great fund-raising opportunity.

"If they haven't lost their momentum, they are at least losing what they had," Snyder said.

The memorial is slated for a seven-acre site wedged between Route 222 and Interstate 78 near Dorney Park. The land is owned by Lehigh County, which has agreed to lease it to KVM for $1 a year for 99 years.

In one form or another, the project has been on the drawing board for 11 years. Estimated to cost between $4 million and $5 million, the project is described as a "living memorial" --part museum, part classroom -- to the "two forgotten wars."

Snyder said that on numerous occasions he extended a hand to the group, offering to help publicize the checkoff. He proposed a statewide mailing and news conferences across the state to get the word out.

The group never took him up on his offers, Snyder recalled.

"Unfortunately, they didn't get coordinated," he said. "I really believe that's the main factor in not meeting their potential."

Added Snyder: "It's a good concept, but you have to market the project."

Duell of Palmerton disputes that the effort was lacking. He said KVM officials made the public relations rounds early this year, months before the April 15 tax deadline, promoting the checkoff in print, radio and TV interviews.

More important than the bottom line, he said, is the fact that the state government got behind the project by allowing KVM on the tax returns.

Despite setbacks, Duell said the group, which has raised roughly $1 million in cash and in-kind contributions, is on course to begin groundbreaking in two years.

Competition for a piece of the refund check was fierce this year because five causes were on the personal income tax forms. In past years, there were only two -- the Wild Resources Conservation Fund and the Pennsylvania division of the U.S. Olympic Committee. Added this year were the KVM, the Organ Donor Awareness Trust Fund and Breast/Cervical Cancer Research.

Of the checkoff options, the cancer concern raised the most: $226,741. It was followed by the wild resources fund with $216,884 and the organ donation program with $51,934.

The KVM placed fourth, raising $4,800 more than the Olympics.

While more choices might have had a negative impact on the original two causes -- Wild Resources and the Olympics raised $79,000 and $41,800 less, respectively -- it led to 50 percent more giving overall.

Revenue press secretary Deb Snyder reasoned the new checkoff options might have compelled donations from some who otherwise wouldn't have given. All five options will appear on the 1998 forms as well, she said.